Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2013 February 2

= February 2 =

Are palatal stops palatalized alveolar stops or palatalized velar stops?
Some alphabets treat them as palatalized alveolars, others treat them as palatalized velars. Which view is correct? 113.185.7.64 (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 07:19, 2 February 2013 (UTC)


 * There can be true palatal sounds, though stops at this place of articulation tend to be semi-unstable, often changing to sounds such as [tʃ,ʃ,dʒ,ʒ] rather than persisting unchanged over the long term... AnonMoos (talk) 17:12, 2 February 2013 (UTC)
 * They are three different things. One is alveolar with the palate raised, one is velar with the palate raised, and one articulated with the palate directly.  They can contrast, Irish has both palatalized alveolars and palatalized velars, and apparently Connacht Irish has a three-way between palatalized alevolar, alveolo-palatal, and palatalized velar with the nasals. Many languages have palatalized postalveolars contrasting with genuine palatals (Hungarian and Albanian are two examples).  Lsfreak (talk) 23:49, 2 February 2013 (UTC)
 * Oh and I read over the part about alphabets. What an alphabet uses to transcribed something doesn't really have any meaning in terms of what's "correct," though it may give a clue as to how they originated in that alphabet.  But not necessarily.  Lsfreak (talk) 03:06, 3 February 2013 (UTC)


 * They are neither. Why should they be one or the other? --ColinFine (talk) 00:32, 4 February 2013 (UTC)


 * As Lsfreak says, they are three different things. As far as IPA would treat them: palatal stops are [c], [ɟ]; palatalised alveolar stops [tʲ], [dʲ] and palatalised velar stops [kʲ], [gʲ]. I'd be willing to bet there's an East Slavic or Goidelic language/dialect where the difference between these is phonemic. - filelake shoe  &#xF0F6;   09:49, 4 February 2013 (UTC)

Arabic, Albanian, Russian, and Khmer questions
What is "Schools of the School District of Philadelphia" or "School District of Philadelphia schools" in Arabic, Albanian, Russian, and Khmer?
 * In Arabic "School District of Philadelphia" is "إدارة مدارس فيلادلفيا"
 * In Albanian "School District of Philadelphia" is "Drejtoria Arsimore e Filadelfias"
 * In Russian "School District of Philadelphia" is "Школьный Округ Филадельфии"
 * That would be "Школы Школьного Округа Филадельфии" --   Jack of Oz   [Talk]  08:44, 2 February 2013 (UTC)
 * Thanks, Jack! WhisperToMe (talk) 17:23, 2 February 2013 (UTC)

This is so I can fully label Commons:Category:School District of Philadelphia schools
 * In Khmer "School District of Philadelphia" is "ខណ្ឌសាលារៀនភីឡាដេលផ្យា"

Thanks, WhisperToMe (talk) 07:25, 2 February 2013 (UTC)

"Validus" in Arabic
I am not so familiar with the Arabic language, and was hoping someone could help me. There's a Latin word for strong, "validus", and I was wondering, what would be the translation of "validus" (not "strong", the actual word "validus") be in Arabic? Thanks! 174.93.61.139 (talk) 20:34, 2 February 2013 (UTC)
 * الصحة (as-saha) is a close fit. It means "strength," but also "health," "wellness," and "wholeness." Adjectival form is الصحي. Wrad (talk) 20:56, 2 February 2013 (UTC)


 * I think the OP is actually asking for a transliteration, right? If so, then I suppose "واليدوس", going letter by letter. But those are all short vowels in Latin, so really it should be "وَلِدُس". (This is also keeping in mind that the Latin word begins with a "w" sound rather than "v", which is convenient because literary Arabic has no "v" sound.) Adam Bishop (talk) 02:34, 3 February 2013 (UTC)